


fearless.

by orphan_account



Category: NCIS
Genre: Case Fic, F/M, Gen, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-09 00:37:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17396786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Tumblr Prompt: Nick meets Ellie’s Mom during a case.The team travels to Oklahoma to investigate a crime on the Bishop’s property. (Written Episode-style)





	fearless.

**Author's Note:**

> CW: mentions of racism
> 
> -
> 
> I’m gonna update Rivers and Roads soon but I NEEDED to write this! Also, yeah we’ve seen Ellie’s family/hometown a lot already in the show but we’ve also seen Stillwater that many times so...

“Gibbs, please! We really don’t need to show up at my parents’ place-“, Ellie begged. 

“Sorry, Bishop- it’s policy.”, the boss said curtly, motioning at the team to grab their gear. 

“Scuttlebutt says we can’t be sure that our information hasn’t been compromised.”, McGee told her as he passed by her desk. After his run-in with SecDef on the chlorine gas case; he had become more paranoid, wondering aloud if the team were under surveillance for something far more sinister than just messing up the optics. 

The news that the Bishop family’s barn in Oklahoma had burned down the night before and taken with it Ellie and her brother’s clubhouse, and the family’s old furniture in storage only fueled McGee’s conspiracies further, and now Gibbs was in on it. 

Her family was safe, of course, her parents hadn’t been home- and her mother had assured her over the phone that it had been an accident, the barn was practically kindling by now, and sparks flying from a gas fire or someone racing down the highway likely would have ignited it. 

The local fire brigade had suspended their investigation, opting instead to help her brothers clean up the property and make sure that the electrical wiring inside their actual house was in good shape. Fires like this weren’t uncommon so far out of town, and were usually nothing more than temporarily saddening and a reminder to the entire county to buy new smoke alarms. 

But McGee’s odd paranoia had seemed to infect everyone, and even Vance insisted they go to investigate. Whatever was going on, Ellie’s opinion didn’t matter. 

Off to Oklahoma they would go. 

The team arrived in their escort to see Ellie’s parents sitting on the stoop, surrounded by the boys as the fire trucks backed out from their driveway. 

Closer up, Ellie could smell the choking smoke and couldn’t help but feel a tug in her heart at the sight of the still- smouldering roof on the place where she had spent so much of her childhood, brushing her horse’s hair, writing her crushes names on it’s wide wooden beams. 

The damage certainly looked much worse than it sounded on the phone. 

“Damn, Bishop- you never told me you had such a nice place. So how much is in your trust fund again?”, Nick quipped, stepping up beside her as they climbed out of the van. 

It was a cheap shot, but still made her smile. 

“It’s a family property, actually. My great- grandparents got it after the War when they came over, and we’ve just stayed.”, she told him. “My parents are artists, actually. So no, Nick, no secret Bugatti in the basement.” 

“Just when I was getting my hopes up, too.” 

Ellie shook her head and fixed her eyes straight ahead. If the slight shock on her family’s faces meant anything, she had a lot of explaining to do. 

“Ellie-“, her mother began as she rose from her seat and came down the stairs to meet the team. “Gibbs? What are you doing here?” 

“Barbara.”, Gibbs greeted her, before flashing his badge. “Can’t say I’m here for pleasure, unfortunately. NCIS business. We’re here to investigate the fire on your property last night.” 

“Wait a moment, the fire department told us that was an accident. You guys already got our girl here, what do you guys want out of our old, dead barn?”, her father asked. 

“Rule 39, there is no such thing as coincidence.”, Nick and McGee chirped from behind him. 

“That a rule on the books?” 

“Mom- Dad- I’ll explain-“, Ellie began, but Gibbs had already began to give orders. 

 

“Torres, take statements. McGee, with me. Bishop-“, he paused for a moment. “Go get yourself a snack, and then you’re with me and McGee.” 

Nick followed Ellie inside, shrugging off the barrage of questions from her brothers and her mother’s concerned glances in her direction. 

“This is why you’re not married, George!”, she finally snapped, when the oldest Bishop brother tried to follow the two of them into the kitchen. There was a stern reprimand behind the wall, followed by the guffaws that Ellie recognizes as Robert and John. 

“So, this is your family, huh.”, Nick murmured as he studied the pictures tacked to the fridge. A little Ellie Bishop riding a pink tricycle with band-aids on both knees stared back at him. 

“Yeah, they’re...a little overwhelming sometimes.”, Ellie said, reaching for the bag of Cheetos that her mother had kept in the top pantry since she was a little girl. 

“Yeah, I figured from the first time I met your brothers. Your Mom knows Gibbs? How did that happen?”, he wondered, as Ellie perched herself up on the counter and dug her hand deep in the bag. 

“It’s...complicated. And embarrassing. Now, anyway. Gibbs had to make a house call.” 

“Hey, it’s just because Gibbs cares about you.”, Nick chuckled, remembering the time that he had ended up on her doorstep after Jack had sent him home. This grin on his face gave him away completely, and Ellie groaned. 

“Okay- you cannot use that against me! It was- after Jake. After I found out he was cheating on me I needed a little bit of time to figure it all out and Gibbs came down to get me.” 

Her voice still wavered a bit at the mention of Jake’s name, and Nick scanned the photos on the fridge again. There was Ellie with a college boyfriend at an Oklahoma football game, and pictures of the boys’ girlfriends dating back to middle school. 

No Jake. Not even Ellie in her wedding dress or the family at the ceremony. No evidence he had ever existed. 

“That Jake dude really let a good thing pass him by, huh.”, Nick said, sidling up to Ellie on the counter. 

“It was a while ago.”, she reminded him. 

“Still, what a dick.”

“Nick!”, she scolded, jabbing her finger in the direction of her parents in the other room. 

“I mean, I’m not wrong. But hey, Bishop?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Any buttons you want me to push while I’m questioning your clearly innocent all-American family?” 

Ellie giggled as she jumped off the counter, falling lightly against Nick’s chest. She let her cheek fall against his chest, taking in the scent of his spicy cologne and leather jacket. 

“Well, my dad has a few overdue library books. It’s not a bad place to start.” 

“Oh, so the Bishops do have some skeletons in the closet!”, he laughed, giving Ellie a little squeeze around her shoulders. 

“They’re good people, Nick. Sometimes I just- they don’t deserve what this job gives- all of us.” 

“Hey. Family’s family. Besides, if you weren’t NCIS, we’d never have met.”, he said, trying to cheer her up. 

“That’s clearly the worst part here.”, Ellie quipped, shaking her head as she headed back out to join Gibbs and McGee. 

“Sorry, Boss, but it looks like the fire department was right. The barn was old, Bishop said they used it to keep their old stuff in, and a lot of this furniture isn’t in great shape. Dry weather, dry wood. Could have even been exhaust that ignited it.”, McGee reported as he kicked through the ashes on the ground of the Bishop barn. 

Gibbs stood beside the remains of what looked like an old dining set, crayon marks still visible across its surface. He knew that they were only things, but looking around, it was clear to see how much of the family’s life would have been forever immortalized if the fire hadn’t taken it all. 

His gut told him this couldn’t be an accident. 

“Look again, McGee. We’re missing something here.” 

The other agent returned to sifting through the ash. A few moments later, he called Gibbs over to the corner of the barn, where the whole wall had fallen through. McGee could tell this was where the fire had started, so if there was any evidence it was more than an accident, it would be here. 

“Boss! I got something.”, he said, holding up the remnants of a cigar in his gloved hand. “Someone could have been smoking and just thrown it out the window, though. He probably wasn’t thinking and we’d have to get the Bishop’s permission to press charges for the property damage. I don’t really think they’d want to.” 

Gibbs studied the filter in McGee’s fingers. “No...that’s hand-rolled. Means whoever tossed it out the window knows better than thinking that it wouldn’t have ignited a fire.” 

“So you think…” 

“Someone wanted this to happen. Get a sample and send it to the closest lab. We aren’t leaving until we find out exactly what’s going on.” 

Nick had set up his interrogations on the Bishop’s dining table, trying to keep his composure as he was surrounded by all the little knick-knacks Barbara Bishop clearly loved to collect. 

There was a little goat salt shaker that reminded him instantly of Jessica, and Nick couldn’t help but smile. 

“Okay, Mrs, Bishop. Your turn. I’m going to guess, from your family’s statements here- no debts, other than your Macy’s card, no enemies, except the Alabama football team, no reasons to think anyone would want to set your barn on fire.” 

She nodded. “Right, right, and right. Now- it was Agent...Torres, wasn’t it?”

“Nick is fine.” 

“Then call me Barbara. How long have you and Ellie been together?”, she asked, making Nick nearly spring out of his seat. 

“Me and Ellie aren’t- we’re partners. Partners for a- a little bit over a couple years? Um… two years and three months? About there.”, he sputtered. 

“Oh, so since about when Agent DiNozzo left the team.”, she said, nodding along as Nick tried to regain his composure. 

“Since- Yeah, Yeah about there. Anyway- uh Barbara, did you notice anything last night? Maybe a- cars racing on the road or something?” 

“I wasn’t home. I thought you already knew that.” 

“Right. Yeah- I wrote it down right here. Sorry.” 

Barbara grinned at Nick, looking every bit like the older Ellie that he had imagined far too many times, sitting across from him playing Scrabble at the old folks’ home. Now that, was a fantasy he definitely shouldn’t be having in front of her mother. 

“Nick?” 

“Um, yes ma’am?” 

“Do you like Ellie?”

Nick felt his mouth go dry. 

“Of course, she’s very...likeable. We work very well together. As partners. Who are also friends. Ellie- uh, Bishop has lots of friends, I’m one of them.”

Barbara chuckled dryly. “Well, it’s good to hear she has a lot of people around her who care.” 

“I care a lot.” 

“I can tell.”, she shot back, laughing as Nick tried to come up with a reply. 

Instead, he leaned across the table and whispered “Is it that obvious?” 

“Well, I did see the two of you in the kitchen earlier. And I do know a few things about relationships, and how quickly they can turn from caring deeply about someone to wanting something more.”, she told him, glancing at the photos of she and Ellie’s father on the mantle. 

“I- I would never do what Jake did to her. And if Ellie doesn’t want to be with me, then I’ll back off. No questions asked.”, Nick blurted out, instantly feeling his ears grow hot. 

“I know. You’re a good man, Agent Torres. I can tell. Ellie takes a while to come around sometimes. She’s good at reading people, but she’s a little slow sometimes reading herself. But I can tell she trusts you, and that should mean more than anything.” 

Nick paused before speaking. “Thanks? I think?” 

“I do expect you to bring those “totally amazing” enchiladas Ellie’s told us about to our Fourth of July party, though.”, she told him, winking. 

Nick’s mouth fell open as she got up from her seat.   
“Now, if we’re finished here-“ 

“Uh- wait- Mrs. Bishop-“, Nick called out, as his phone buzzed to a text from McGee. “Any smokers in the family?” 

She shrugged, fixing him with a puzzled look. “Robert smoked some pot in high school but- other than that, no-“ 

“Alright, cool. Thanks, Mrs. Bishop-“, he started, firing back a text to McGee. “And thanks for, the other stuff-“ 

“I do want that recipe, too, Nick!” 

Ellie studied the cigar in the evidence bag before her, barely able to comprehend what Gibbs was saying. 

“Could it have been- maybe a trucker? Truckers roll their own cigars, and maybe he just thought it would be funny to start a fire. We can pull the driver records and cross- reference-“

“Bishop.”, Gibbs said, gripping her shoulders before she started to pace. “Think harder. Come on. I know you don’t want this to be a targeted attack, but we can’t miss anything just because we don’t want it to be true.” 

She shook her head. “No- it’s just- you guys are the only ones who know that I have a connection to this address. I was so careful because I knew what could happen because of all the horror stories I heard at the NSA. So either we have a leak or-“ 

“We’re looking for someone closer to home.”, Ellie could hear Nick’s voice as he strode up behind her and Gibbs. 

“What? You’ve met my family. They’re completely harmless.”, she protested. 

“Yeah, in real life. But call it a hunch, I think someone might have gotten the wrong idea. Gibbs, can the lab get DNA off the filter on the cigar?”

“I’ll put ‘em on it, Torres.” 

Nick had started to put the pieces together as soon as Ellie had told him the property had been in her family since her great-grandparents had come over after the war. The pictures on the fridge and the mantle helped his case- the Bishops weren’t Jewish, but a little Star of David necklace was hung around a picture of a couple of young children from the fifties; but not more than Barbara Bishop asking for his enchilada recipe. Her accent was perfect. Ellie hadn’t learned Spanish from the NSA, Nick deduced, following the trail of knick-knacks and photos around the kitchen and the house. 

She was right- the Bishops were completely harmless- but not if you had a certain, very specific, problem with certain, very specific people. 

Now, Nick sat across from Jared McSally in the town sheriffs investigation room, dutifully taking notes as Gibbs worked his magic. 

Jared, it seemed from his internet history, had picked up some interesting ideas from the radical fringes of the web, which just made him all the more angry and dangerous. 

He’d found out about the Bishops’ family history thanks to old news clippings from the library archives that detailed Ellie’s great-grandparents rescue of several young children fleeing the Holocaust, and discovered the land deed that had listed them as coming to America from Austria with a little bit of Google-fu. The Bishops weren’t too hard to find on their public social media pages, and it seemed that Jared hadn’t liked what he had seen. 

Didn’t fit with his vision of the world, or something equally as silly. 

“They’re not even real Americans.”, he spat, as Gibbs presented him with the evidence: his DNA on the cigar filter and the neighbors who had reported seeing his truck driving up the highway the night before. 

“That a confession?” 

“So I wanted to teach those illegal sympathizers a little lesson. What are you gonna do about it?” 

“Right now we’re looking at Arson, Intimidation, Destruction of a Federal Officer’s property...you want to add a hate crime to that or are you good with going to State prison?”, Gibbs snapped. Nick was certain he hadn’t seen Gibbs this angry in months. 

“Federal Officer’s property...come on. Their little traitor daughter don’t live there no more. The kids are all grown.” 

“What the hell did you just say?”, Nick suddenly felt a rush of anger. 

“I said, the charges ain’t gonna stick. Learn to speak English, hombre.” 

Gibbs eyes widened. “That’s it. Book him.” 

 

“I just can’t believe that he was so angry about- us just living our lives.”, Robert Bishop told the dinner table between bites of Nick’s now-famous enchiladas. 

“Well, terrorists tend to be that way.”, said Gibbs. 

“Yeah, and sometimes people just suck.”, Nick added, making Ellie look down at the ground. Clearly, the case had shaken her resolve, and Nick hated to see it. Her boundless optimism was one of the things that he found most attractive about her, and he was determined not to let some jerk take that away. 

“But you know, there are bright spots in all of it. We can’t let fear ruin that.”, he said, reaching underneath the table to clasp Ellie’s hand in his. “There’s way more good people out in the world than anything else.” 

She squeezed his hand back in silent thanks. 

“Yeah, I guess so.”, Ellie sighed, lifting her fork back to her mouth. 

Later, the two of them were drying the dinner dishes, while a football game played in the background from the living room. Ellie melted against Nick, letting the tension deep out of her muscles as he wrapped his arms around her wordlessly. 

“What you said earlier-“, she began, turning to face him. “About not letting fear ruin a good thing?” 

“Yeah?”

She let herself fall into Nick’s kiss, the salty taste of his warm tongue welcome on hers, oblivious to the people who could walk in on them at any moment. 

“Obviously, you took it to heart.”, he murmured as she broke their kiss. 

“I like you a lot, Nick Torres.”, she chuckled. 

“Yeah, love you, too, babe.” 

“Don’t call me babe!”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys liked and didn’t find it too “political”. Sorry, I have spent way too much time watching the news :((


End file.
